What is the name of the precious rock that the early Maori hunted for and what type of rock is it?

Answer 1

The precious rock that the early Maori hunted for was Pounamu/Greenstone.Pounamu is only found in the South Island mostly around the West Coast ways. This was a very strong rock that the Maoris could use for various things.

Pounamu is also called Jade. It is often used for jewellery and is highly prized to this day. It was often used for weapons too in the past. It's rather like the diamonds in South Africa - just as you can't just walk into a mine over there , find a diamond and keep it, you can't just go to a river in westland and go greenstone hunting and keep it . The rights to the Pounamu belong to Maori.